Unproduced Adaptations of Fujio Akatsuka Works
Although certain manga creations of Fujio Akatsuka were popular and fortunate enough to cross over to an animated format, there were also cases where plans to bring such adaptations to life did not happen due to various circumstances. This article will cover such instances where known. 1960s The Genius Bakabon Proposed for: October 1968 Studio: Nippon TV Douga Channel: Nippon Television Network Nippon TV Douga announced their plans to adapt the series in March 1968, but only managed to ever complete a pilot episode that was done in full-color (rare at the time). By the time the series was scheduled to air, it had since been canceled due to "problems with the source material" and issues in production. The pilot film itself has never surfaced in any degree. Following Nippon TV Douga's failure to produce the television adaptation, Studio Zero would announce their own plans in December 1968. However, this later plan in itself never appeared to get far at all. Not all hope was lost for Bakabon ''in the end, as eventually Tokyo Movie would produce a 1971 animated series. Extraordinary Ataro '''Proposed for': October 1968 Studio: Studio Zero Channel: Unknown Studio Zero had announced plans for an anime adaptation of this series in July 1968, with an October release said to be imminent although no network was named. Yet by December of the same year, Studio Zero would update the project's status to merely be "under consideration" along with that of their Bakabon plans. Ultimately, it would appear that Toei's Ataro ''going into production would have nixed these plans, and that program would air on NET in April of 1969. Good Morning with Mi-tan '''Proposed for': January(?) 1969 Studio: Toei Animation Channel: NET It was considered by Daisaku Shirakawa as the follow-up program to occur after Sally the Witch wrapped up its run. However, he soon became more favorable to the idea of adapting Akko-chan, as she would also be a magical girl like Sally. It is unknown if this proposal ever got as far to be a pitch document, rather than just consideration of it occuring. 1970s Bukkare*Dan Proposed for: 1970? Studio: Toei Animation? Channel: Unknown At the time of Bukkare*Dan's run, it was intended for there to be an animated adaptation to follow. Due to the failure of the series to catch on with readers, it ended abruptly and such plans for animation evaporated. Karappe of the Wind Proposed for: 1970 Studio: Toei Animation Channel: Unknown A 15-minute series was planned to air, in a 7:30-7:45 timeslot. At the time of the pitch, the comic was still drawn by Akatsuka and the only two major characters were Karappe and Karaten. The Great Stupid Detective Kogoro Hakuchi Proposed for: 1970? Studio: Toei Animation Channel: Unknown This series was also at one point considered by Toei, but never materialized. The planning material dates from late 1969, after the release of the original one-shot, and notes that the one-shot was highly requested to become a regular series. This project of course, fell through, though Kogoro would later get its serialized version in Adventure King in the 1970s. Unknown "Akatsuka World" Project Proposed for: Mid-late 1970s Studio: Unknown The anime writer Masaki Tsuji had remarked of plans to pen the screenplay for an anime project containing "all of Fujio Akatsuka's characters", though he did not specify it were a TV series, special, or movie. Ultimately, this also fell through, with speculation being that it may have been hard to clear the rights to different characters that had been adapted by different studios (although there was no such issue bringing them together for the Tokiwa-so Story special). 1980s The Genius Bakabon (Movie) Proposed for: 1988 Studio: Ajiado A theatrical film of Bakabon was announced in December 1987, with Tsutomu Shibayama slated to do the character designs once again while Mitsuru Hongo would direct. However, this plan came to a halt as Kodansha and other parties decided to approve Pierrot's Osomatsu-kun as the first adaptation to kick off the "Akatsuka boom". Any lingering chances of the film happening would disappear, as Pierrot opted for their own take on Bakabon to follow up -kun in its timeslot. 1990s Let's La Gon Proposed for: May(?) 1990 Studio: Gallop Channel: Fuji TV A pilot film of Gon was completed, and the intent was for a series adaptation to take over Gaki Deka's timeslot after it wrapped. Unfortunately, this would not come to pass, for various unspecified circumstances. Akko-chan's Got a Secret! (Continuation of 1988 version) Proposed for: mid-1990 Studio: Toei Animation Channel: Fuji TV After the pressure to prematurely wrap up the 1988 show, the staff were given hope they could resume production after Chibi Maruko-chan would wrap its own half-year run and the timeslot would be free again. This did not happen, as the successor show (itself only the first adaptation of Maruko, with the second still running to this day) wound up proving to be popular enough to be extended for the rest of the year and all the way to 1992. It would appear that any plans to seriously continue Akko-chan may have died after this, and the option of a reboot for a newer audience in 1998 would have seemed like a preferrable option compared to having to continue a decade-old series. 2000s Tamanegi Tama-chan Proposed for: 2004 Studio: Unknown Channel: NHK As Rieko Akatsuka was fond of the work, which her father had created just for children like her, she was adamant on pushing for there to be an animated adaptation. In the end, though it was seriously considered for NHK, the lack of willing sponsors and parties for a production committee killed the project before it could even truly take off. 2010s Osomatsu-kun/Osomatsu-san (early, unproduced version) Proposed for: Around 2013-2014 Studio: Pierrot Channel: TV Tokyo Although the writer and director Toru Hosokawa hoped he could eventually adapt "Bakabon" for the 21st century, the orders came from Fujio Pro around approximately 2013 for a new adaptation of Osomatsu-kun, and Pierrot was keen on having that be the start of a new potential "Akatsuka boom" to lead into his 80th anniversary. Unfortunately, as there were no prime-time slots available for a -kun adaptation and any further planning for the series wound up held up for a year, it was deemed to instead move the project to a late-night slot. Hosokawa would then opt to instead suggest the idea of shifting the "-kun" project to a "-'san'" and aging the characters up to be 30-year old salarymen, to have it be more appropriate for an adult airing time and to get away with more mature humor. This version in itself would appear to have been a more direct sequel to -kun. As the producers at Pierrot and TV Tokyo were not impressed with Hosokawa's pitch, his proposal was thrown out though they still liked the idea of "-san" in itself and asked to use the title and the basic concept of the characters aged up. Hosokawa's first two episodes of his pitch were the only elements that made it into the existing series in some form, but were extensively rewritten by Shu Matsubara. Category:Anime Adaptations